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Philippines' Duterte loses patience, orders trash shipped back Canada

Published 05/22/2019, 06:23 PM
Updated 05/22/2019, 06:30 PM
Philippines' Duterte loses patience, orders trash shipped back Canada

MANILA, May 22 (Reuters) - President Rodrigo Duterte has
ordered his government to hire a private shipping company to
send 69 containers of garbage back to Canada and leave them
within its territorial waters if it refuses to accept the trash,
his spokesman said on Wednesday.
"The Philippines as an independent sovereign nation must not
be treated as trash by other foreign nation," Presidential
Spokesman Salvador Panelo told a media briefing.
Canada says the waste, exported to the Philippines between
2013 and 2014, was a commercial transaction not backed by the
Canadian government.
Canada has since offered to take the rubbish back and the
two countries are in the process of arranging the transfer.
But Canada missed a May 15 deadline set by Manila to take
back the shipment, prompting the Philippines to withdraw top
diplomats from Canada last week. "Obviously, Canada is not taking this issue nor our country
seriously. The Filipino people are gravely insulted about Canada
treating this country as a dump site," Panelo said. The Canadian embassy in Manila did not immediately respond
to a request for comment.
The Philippines has made several diplomatic protests to
Canada since a 2016 court ruling that the garbage be returned.
The consignments were labelled as containing plastics to be
recycled in the Philippines but were filled with a variety of
rubbish including diapers, newspapers and water bottles.
The issue is not the only one to strain ties between the two
countries.
Last year, Duterte ordered the military to cancel a $233
million deal to buy 16 helicopters from Canada, after Ottawa
expressed concern they could be used to fight rebels.

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